At the time of writing (July 2012) Professor Noam Chomsky is regarded as one of the greatest intellectuals alive. Chomsky has written many books and articles. He has also taken part in many debates. His academic field is linguistics but he is more widely known as a public philosopher focussing on international affairs and American foreign policy. He is very critical of the role the US is playing in the world. Search “Chomsky” on Google and you will see the enormous contribution Chomsky has made to the debating of very important issues - particularly human rights.
Whether we agree with Chomsky’s views is not relevant to something we can learn from Chomsky about persuasive communication. And make no mistake, Chomsky has the ability to be powerfully persuasive. Chomsky is fiercely honest and says exactly what he thinks - this helps him come over as decisive. What also helps make him a powerful persuader is that his IQ is obviously off the scale!
I can hear you saying “Hang on, what can I (a mere mortal) learn from this super potent public philosopher?” Well there is one lesson we can learn immediately and start applying at once.
The lesson is about the importance of sources. Log on to YouTube and look at videos where Chomsky is debating or giving a talk. There is a great program on the BBC called “Hard Talk”. There are plenty of “Hard Talk” videos on YouTube. Go and listen to Chomsky answering tough questions on “Hard Talk”. Notice that Chomsky always quotes the sources of information he is talking about.
Let’s take an example. Say Chomsky is debating abuses of human rights in XYZland.
Chomsky will never say “In XYZ land rape is a serious problem” and leave it at that.
Chomsky will rather say “I XYZland rape is a serious problem. Read the report on rape in XYZland published in January 2011 by the University of ABC in XYZland. According to a survey in the report, one out of four males in XYZland have committed rape. I can give you a website that has the whole report on it. You can download the report and read it if you want to understand the seriousness of the problem properly.”
What can we learn? It is simply this. We need to keep a database of important facts (with sources) that come up in important discussions we get involved in. Put the database on a mobile like an iPhone or iPad. Make sure the database synchs between the two devices and is automatically saved in the cloud (heaven forbid you lose your database!).
Having the database on a mobile is very useful. You can refer to it anywhere. Next time you are stuck in a queue instead of moaning about the delay whip out the mobile and read through the database. You will soon be familiar with the facts and sources. Your debating skills will be deadly and even Chomsky like! Go for it and you (and your opponents) will feel the difference when you debate or discuss important issues.
By the way, a writing/database App that syncs and saves in the cloud is “Evernote”. It works very well recording facts and sources.
And there we have it - a really useful lesson from the master persuader Chomsky: Know your facts and their sources and be ready to quote them in discussion. Enjoy.
Posted with Blogsy